Walk The Streets

K: Kate 5

An unnerving bump shook me awake.
"Are you kidding me!? I told you to let her rest. Why the hell did you kick her seat?" Maria's voice.
I couldn't see very well, as if there was a thin translucent film over my eyes, but I could definitely hear Timmy and Luke fire back at Maria.
"She needs to quit being such a sissy and wake up." Timmy. Luke grunting in agreement.
I had only heard it once and I was already tired of hearing Timmy's voice. "Hey, what's going... What happened?" My words stumbled out of my mouth like a toddler just learning to talk.
"Kate, there's good news and there's bad news." Maria sounded odd.
"Bad news first." I replied almost instantaneously.
"Okay," She paused "The bad news is you slammed into another undead after you killed the first one." Maria shifted in her seat. "The good news is for one, you killed one of the undead, and for two, that's not why you passed out this time."
I was confused; Maria was off, Garrett and Joey were silent, and the cousins seemed agitated.
"Okay, and..."
"You got knocked out because when you ran into the second undead, you hit your head on the shelf and then on the floor too."
"I remember my hand being covered and splattered with blood, but it was my left hand."
"Okay?" Maria.
"I'm right handed."
They all had looks of shock on their faces, and finally Garrett spoke up. "Well, typically when you stab one of the undead the blood could go in any direction."
"But the undeads' heads are softer since their bodies are rotting, so, that much blood wouldn't have got all over my hand." There was something wrong, something very wrong.
"Well I guess this one was different." Maria said this, but was very unconvincing. The nervous look on her face made it even worse.
I wanted to say more. I wanted to tell them they were wrong, and demand the truth. The only problem was, I was scared to find out the truth. "I guess so."
Maria took a breath of relief and sat back in her seat to relax.
The rest of the day was driving, driving, and more driving. Unescapable memories filled my head as we drove.
···
"What?" He asked in amazement. "There's no way you like him."
"Well... I do." I hoped this would work. "Why? You got a problem with it?"
"N-no." He said nervously. I noticed his cheeks were turning red.
"Carl? Cowboy? You sure?"
A smile formed on his face. "I just don't think he's right for you. You know?" Those last words came out slowly.
"Yeah, I guess so." I said with a nervous smile of my own.
Carl turned to see his mom standing outside waiting for him. "Alright, well, looks like I gotta go. See you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, tomorrow." I nodded.
I watched as he smiled and walked away but stopped and walked back to me.
"Kate, can I ask you something?" He was extra nervous now.
"Uh sure." Great, now I was nervous.
"Katelyn, Soldier," He smiled, "Will you be..." He paused, gathering his words.
I decided to say something to break the awkward silence, because I knew what was coming. "Hey, you want to ask me tomorrow? I mean your mom looks pretty worried over there."
He looked back and breathed heavily. He gave a half smile and told me "Sure, tomorrow." Then he was gone.
···
That was the last normal day of my life. Everything went to hell after that. Carl never got to ask me that question, and I never got to answer it.
Now I'm sitting in a van with a bunch of semi-strangers, during the apocalypse, driving to who knows where. What a great new start, I sarcastically thought to myself.
We were driving as night fell and Garrett began to slow the van down. He pulled over to a slightly hidden path on the side of the road. When he came to a stop, he leaned back in his seat and let out a sigh.
"What? Are we out of gas or somethin'?" Timmy instantly asked.
"No, we're staying here and then picking back up in the morning." Garrett replied. I could tell he was exhausted.
Joey declared that he would take watch, Timmy and Luke passed out fairly quickly, Garrett drifted into a much needed sleep, and Maria seemed conflicted but soon forgot about her thoughts and got some shut eye.
I couldn't fall asleep. The thoughts of the events from earlier that day wouldn't leave my mind. I closed my eyes and tried to get rid of my awareness of the world around me.
Then I heard two doors open and close quietly, but I kept my eyes closed. Then came the voices. It was Maria and Garrett; They were outside the van, talking low. I put my ear to the side of the door to hear them better.
"When are we going to tell her?" Maria asked.
"Should we even tell her at all?" Garrett replied with another question.
"Yes, she needs to know." Maria seemed offended by his question. "But when?"
"When we think she's ready." He answered.
"I think she might be ready now; She's a strong girl, Garrett."
"Not just yet."
"Damn it Garrett; She killed someone! She deserves to know!" Maria realized how loud she was getting so she spoke quieter. Then she cut up her words to prove a point. "She. Killed. A. Human. Being."
I felt sick to my stomach. I killed someone.
A living breathing person. I killed another person.
I held out my hand in front of me and opened my eyes. I started counting on my fingers; Mom, Dad, and now a third.
I killed three people.
One. Two. Three...
One. Two. Three... Holding each finger out as I counted.
One. Two. Three.
I counted to three, over and over again, all night long...
One. Two. Three.